| “ | The Duke of Westminster: One of us! Teeth so strong they can crush any bones, and tongue long enough to flay the flesh from a fat man's face. Harchibald Fitzhugh: Able to slip from shadow to shadow. Free as air, hard as nails, dangerous as, as us. Nobody Owens: But what if I don't want to become one of you? Harchibald Fitzhugh: Don't want to? Of course you wants to! What could be finer? I don't think there's a soul in the universe that doesn't want to be just like us. The Bishop of Bath and Well: We've got the best city- Harchibald Fitzhugh: The best food, the best life. The 33rd President of the United States: Can you imagine how fine the black ichor that collects in a leaden coffin can be? Nobody Owens: What are you people? Harchibald Fitzhugh: Ghouls! Bless me, somebody wasn't paying attention, was he? We're Ghouls! |
„ |
| ~ The Ghouls revealing their true nature to Nobody. |
The Ghouls are major antagonists of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. They are undead creatures who live in the city of Ghûlheim in Hell. Generally dimwitted and hedonistic, eating corpses and impulsively doing whatever they please, taking the names of famous figures. Although they believe that they are physically better than any other creature, they are cowardly and easily scared by threats. They create more ghouls by tricking the living into coming to Hell with them, where they painfully transform them, destroying any evidence of their former selves.
Description[]
| “ | Miss Lupescu: Tell me about Ghouls. Nobody Owens: Stay away from them. |
„ |
| ~ Nobody being quizzed on Ghouls. |
Although their appearances vary, Ghouls are generally shorter than a human, and broader. They have a somewhat apelike build. Due to their undead nature, their skin shows various levels of decay, and with good lighting it is easy to tell they are not human.
The ritual that transforms people into Ghouls twists their personalities. Although they aren't all the same, all Ghouls believe Ghoul kind to be superior to all other creatures. They have warped sensibilities, believing Ghûlheim to be beautiful, despite it being horrifyingly hideous, and enjoying the taste of decaying flesh. They also lose foresight and have a very poor long-term memory, leading to them mostly just acting however they want in the moment. Although their goals can vary, they generally seem to have a dim at best view of morality. Although dimwitted, they can make themselves come across as superficially charismatic at times.
History[]
Origins[]
| “ | The Duke of Westminster: Don't take on so. As soon as you're one of us, you'll forget you even had a home. Unnamed Ghoul: I don't remember anything about the days before I was a ghoul. The Emperor of China: Nor I. The 33rd President of the United States: Nope. |
„ |
| ~ The Ghouls to Nobody. |
The origins of the first Ghouls are unclear, but they originally come from Hell, or some sort of Hell-like dimension. At some point they found the city of Ghûlheim, which had been built by some other long-dead creatures. They developed a sort of society despite their hedonism, and at somepoint developed a bloody rivalry with the Night Gaunts who lived in their dimension.
In order to create more Ghouls, the Ghouls found ways to enter the living world. They created Ghoul gates from the oldest most overgrown graves in every graveyard, which functioned as portals from their dimension. Using these, they would enter the living world, either to feed on humans and corpses, or to kidnap people and bring them back to Ghûlheim to be transformed into Ghouls. Apparently, at some point various Ghouls at a Duke of Westminster, a Bishop of Bath and Welles, Archibald Fitzhugh, Harry Truman, and an emperor of China, taking on their names afterwards.
Encountering Nobody[]
| “ | So, you game for an adventure? Or do you want to waste the rest of your life here? | „ |
| ~ The Duke of Westminster manipulating Nobody into coming to Hell with them. |
One night, three Ghouls called The Duke of Westminster, The Bishop of Bath and Welles, and Harchibald Fitzhugh were returning to from the Living World when they found a young boy named Nobody Owens by their Ghoul Gate. Nobody was unhappy with the lady who was taking care of him, and the Ghouls convinced him he would be happier if he came to Hell with them. Not understanding the situation, Nobody accompanied the Ghouls.
On their journey back to Ghûlheim, the Ghouls were accosted several times by Night Gaunts, who they fought off. In order to travel more quickly, they Stored Nobody in a sack and carried him. In the night two Ghouls decided that it would be better to just kill him and eat him, since he was more trouble than he was worth. However, before they could do anything, they were attacked and killed by a monstrous wolf, who carried of their body. The next day, the Ghouls arrived in Ghûlheim. However, as they climbed the steps, they were ambushed by the same monstrous wolf and abandoned Nobody, fleeing into their city.
Sometime later, the Ghouls most likely encountered Jack Dandy, Jack Tar, and Jack Nimble, three men who had become trapped in Hell.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | You'll be one of a select band of the cleverest, strongest, bravest creatures ever! | „ |
| ~ The Bishop of Bath and Wells. |
The Ghouls were physically more powerful than the average, having enhanced strength and speed, being able to carry a decent sized child with ease. They were also quite agile, scaling cliffs with ease. They are implied to be immortal as well, or at least do not die of old age.
Trivia[]
- Since The Graveyard Book is an extremely lose adaptation of The Jungle Book set in a graveyard, the Ghouls would be the equivalent of the Bandar Log.